In the conditioning of fabrics, such as those in laundry, by tumbling contact of the laundry with a fabric conditioning article, such as a base material containing a coating of conditioning composition, stains and spots have been observed on the treated articles. In some cases, as when cationic conditioning agents, such as quaternary ammonium salts, are employed, staining may be due to a chemical reaction between color bodies or metal ions and the quaternary compound. However, in addition to such staining, spotting has been observed on items of laundry treated in an automatic dryer with conditioning compositions that were transferred to the laundry from the surfaces of a solid treating article. Such spotting, while unobjectionable in certain cases, sometimes is sufficiently pronounced that it significantly adversely affects the appearance and utility of the conditioned article. This is especially true when the materials being conditioned are resin-coated or otherwise treated to make them "permanently pressed". Because most of the fabric conditioning agents of the type described herein are wax-like the waxy or fatty appearing spots on the laundry will be more apparent on colored items than on white goods, since they seem to deepen the colors. Nevertheless, upon ironing, in which the deposited conditioning agent is usually fused and distributed in a smooth film at the surface of the article being ironed, the spot may be enlarged or may be made readily visible and hence, more objectionable, even on white goods. In some cases ironing may "fix" the stain to the substrate.
Chemical analyses of the substances of the spots on the conditioned fabrics establish that they usually correspond substantially to the conditioning compositions being employed. Thus, it would be natural to assume that under the heat of the conditioning operation, usually undertaken in an automatic laundry dryer, the conditioning composition had melted at the surface of the conditioning article and had been smeared onto the fabric contacting it, creating the spots. Consequently, from such an analysis of the problem it would appear that what was required was a hardening agent for the conditioning composition or else, to employ conditioning agents of higher melting or softening points. Also, in the event that the smearing was due to the softening of the conditioning agent in contact with moisture in laundry being treated, it appeared desirable to utilize conditioning agents of lesser degree of water solubility. From these considerations, the employment of a water soluble, liquid plasticizing compound to diminish spotting was contraindicated. Even if plasticizers were considered as being of possible utility to make the conditioning composition more uniform and resilient and to aid in the spreading of the conditioning agent over the fabric with which it is brought in contact, it would be expected that the use of liquid and water soluble material would be avoided, in the interest of diminishing the excessive smearing of the conditioning agent onto the fabric being treated.